ALMOST every bed at Barnsley Hospital was occupied at the start of this month, new figures show.
The most recent NHS situation report for this winter shows the hospital trust had an average of 460 out of 484 beds occupied in the week to February 2.
Across England, an average of 95 per cent of beds were occupied with 98,101 patients in hospital each day for the week – higher than at any point so far this winter.
The NHS said one in seven beds were taken up by patients who did not need to be in hospital and were well enough to be discharged, also a record high for this winter.
In Barnsley Hospital, an average of 124 patients were fit to be discharged each day in the week to February 2.
However, 49 – 39 per cent – remained in hospital.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The system is gridlocked.
“When there is so little capacity, the flow of patients through the hospital grinds to a halt.
“You can keep adding people into the system through the emergency department but if you can’t discharge them from wards when they are well enough to go home, the system breaks down, and we see the result in emergency department corridors and car parks.”
